1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a heat sink, and more particularly, to a heat sink for a heat source such as a high power semiconductor device in a display panel.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a device driving circuit that uses a high power semiconductor device, a heat sink is provided for dissipating heat generated by the semiconductor device. A device, such as a PDP in which display cells are defined by electrodes arranged to cross each other and in which display cells of the display panel are addressed by switching timing of each electrode for emitting light, uses a number of high power switching devices. Since the high power switching devices generate a great amount of heat, if the heat is not dissipated efficiently, the heat not only degrades the switching devices but also diminishes the overall performance of the driving circuit. Therefore, the high power switching devices are mounted on a driving circuit board and combined with a heat sink. The heat sink can be manufactured by several methods including extrusion molding.
A semiconductor device can be combined with a driving circuit board by soldering and with a heat sink by using screws. The heat sink can be combined with the semiconductor device by using screws and with the driving circuit board by a fixing member. In this manner, heat generated during operation of a driving circuit in a semiconductor device is dissipated into the air via the heat sink.
Screw holes for combining semiconductor devices are formed in a heat sink. The heat sink can be manufactured by a variety of methods. For example, a heat sink can be manufactured by extrusion molding with a material having a high heat conductivity, such as aluminum. The heat sink generally has two surfaces, a surface to maximize a contact area with the semiconductor device to absorb heat generated by the heat source by conduction and another surface to maximize a contact area with air for dissipating absorbed heat into the air. The semiconductor devices can be combined with the heat sink via screws inserted through fabrication holes formed in the semiconductor devices and the screw holes formed in the heat sink. The heat sink is combined with a driving circuit board by a fixing member.
The semiconductor devices are combined with the heat sink by using screws and with the driving circuit board by soldering. However, the semiconductor devices rotate in the screwing direction by the rotating force of the screws. In this case, the rotation of the semiconductor device can create significant problems in affixing the semiconductor devices to the driving circuit board. That is, the leads of the semiconductor devices are not in a correct position on the driving circuit board, and accordingly soldering must be performed by forced fitting, thereby damaging the leads of the semiconductor devices and the pattern on the printed circuit substrate.